Some Virginia Lawyers of the Past and Present.

is a member of the New York bar; Markham and Robert E. Lee are associated with their father. Roger A. Pryor was born in Dinwiddic County, Va., in 1828. He is descended from the Bland, Poythress, Cary, Randolph, Isham, Gates, Atkinson and Pleasant fami lies of colonial Virginia and through them from noble families in England and France. Judge Pryor graduated, with the valedictory, at Hampden-Sydney College when eighteen years old, studied law under Prof. John B. Minor at the University of Virginia, gradua ted, was admitted to the bar and married be fore he was twenty-one. He first went into journalism and had a brilliant career as editor of the " Southside Democrat," " Washington Union" and "Richmond Enquirer" in the notable days before the war. In 1855 he was sent on a special mission to Greece by Presi dent Pierce, on his return in 1856 he made some able speeches in Montgomery which defeated the plan of Mr. William L. Yancey for reopening slave-trade. He was elected to Congress in 1859 and reelected in 1860. When Virginia seceded he became a mem ber, first of the Provisional Congress, then of the first regular Confederate Congress. Later he entered the Confederate army and was appointed . colonel by the Governor of Virginia and brevetted general after the battles of Williamsburg and Seven Pines. After the war he became a member of the New York bar and was eminently successful. He was appointed by Governor Hill, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and after wards elected for the full term of fourteen years, which position he held until that court was consolidated with the Supreme Court of which he is now a justice. Of the nine

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teen New York City Supreme Court judges, Judge Pryor is said to be the greatest hum orist and wit and the most delightful guest at dinner or banquet. It is said: "His rep artees, always appropriate and in place, are heightened in effect by his almost preter natural countenance, in which the smile seems fairly weird-like." One of his most admired speeches was made at the annual dinner of the alumni of the University Law School in New York, April 18, 1895, in re sponse to the toast : "The Bench." It was much applauded and was published all over the country. His closing words were: "Wealth is not the reward of the lawyer, but by noble endeavor he may attain a better prize—a name of renown and an influence for good." The same year Judge Pryor read a splendid paper before the Virginia Bar Association, at their annual meeting at White Sulphur Springs, which breathes throughout his love for the land of his birth, and that indeed he cherishes "her renown as a priceless heritage, and feels any dero gation from her glory as a filial bereave ment." One who knows him well, says of him: "Thoughtful of others, kind, sympa thetic, most tender and gentle. His capac ity for work is undiminished. He can out work half a dozen men." Virginia! "From her first born to her latest—from Washington to Lee, unequal only in fortune—the Old Commonwealth has maintained the high strain of her noble lineage. The story of her renown abides with us, not as a solace in our decline but as an incentive to emulation of her ancient virtues; that so we may transmit her glory to the succeeding generation without blem ish and without abatement."

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